French toast is the kind of breakfast that I aspire to make most weekends but for one reason or another, I never get around to it. Last weekend, I stopped making excuses and committed to a French toast breakfast on Sunday.

I went to KNEAD, one of my favorite bakeries in St. Louis, to get the brioche bread. You can use almost any kind of bread to make French toast but I think it tastes waaay better on bread that’s thick and eggy. I’m talking challah and brioche, but maybe you have another bread in mind. I just thought of babka French toast as I typed this, but that might be overkill.

ANYWAY. The second most important thing for French toast after bread selection is dryness. Ideally, you don’t want to make French toast with fresh bread. I bought a day-old loaf from KNEAD (which was conveniently 15% off) and let it sit on my counter for a day before I made French toast on Sunday. I’ve known people who have left the bag of bread open overnight. You might not want to go to this extreme, but it can’t hurt.

My recipe for French toast is not much of a recipe because I usually just eyeball ingredients and spices and hope that it works. But over the years, I’ve perfected my method. This recipe yields toast that’s slightly sweet, rich, and even better with a pat of butter and a healthy pour of maple syrup. I think you’ll love it as much as I do.

A note: My recipe makes four slices of French toast, which makes it ideal for a single person or for two people who aren’t very hungry. If you want more, just double or triple the recipe and soak the slices of bread in the custard in batches.

Here’s a song to get you started on your French toast journey.

Brioche French Toast

Ingredients

4 slices of day-old (or older) brioche bread
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup of milk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp brown sugar
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of salt
butter, for frying
butter and maple syrup for topping

Directions

Beat the eggs, milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Pour the mixture into a shallow baking pan and place the four slices of bread next to one another. Allow them to soak for a few minutes and then turn them over in the pan so they soak all the way through.

Heat some butter in a skillet on medium heat until it melts and starts to bubble a little. Fry the slices two at a time. The first side takes a few minutes and the second side cooks faster. Check as you’re cooking to make sure the bread doesn’t butter.

Serve with more butter and maple syrup. Enjoy!